The Honorable John Thune
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Majority Leader Thune,

I write to you as a fellow Republican committed to delivering on the mandate the American people gave us in 2024: to enact bold, conservative reforms that restore prosperity, secure our nation, and rein in Washington’s excesses. The Senate filibuster, a relic of a bygone era of bipartisanship that no longer exists, stands as the single greatest obstacle to fulfilling that promise. I urge you to lead the charge to eliminate the legislative filibuster and allow the Senate to function on a simple majority basis, as the Founders intended for most of its history.

With unified Republican control of Congress and the White House, the American people expect results—not procedural paralysis. In the last month alone, the Democrat Party has repeatedly weaponized this impractical barrier to the detriment of American citizens. Rather than paying our men and women in uniform or helping to feed struggling families, Democrats—by their own admission—have sought to leverage American suffering for political gain. A simple-majority Senate would finally enable us to address four critical policy areas that have languished under minority obstruction: healthcare, immigration, energy, and federal spending.We can repeal the last vestiges of Obamacare’s regulatory straitjacket, expand health savings accounts, promote price transparency, and empower patients and doctors over bureaucrats. A simple-majority vote would deliver lower premiums, more choice, and true patient-centered care without the specter of a 60-vote threshold.

Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we have secured the wide-open border left behind by the Biden administration and the radical left-wing Democrats, however much work remains. We must continue carrying out the President’s immigration agenda, hire thousands of additional Border Patrol agents, reinstateRemain in Mexico, and end catch-and-release—all stalled by filibuster threats. Beyond the border, we must overhaul our legal immigration system to prioritize merit, skills, and assimilation over chain migration and visa lotteries. Ending the filibuster would allow us to eliminate sanctuary city incentives and protect American workers from unfair competition.

America’s surging power demands—driven by AI data centers, manufacturing resurgence, and electric vehicle mandates—are being crushed by the Obama/Biden-era policies that have shuttered coal plants, strangled permitting, and subsidized unreliable wind and solar while ignoring nuclear power. We can reverse these failures by accelerating new nuclear reactor deployments, streamlining NRC approvals, funding advanced small modular reactors, and lifting outdated restrictions on uranium enrichment. A simple-majority Senate would unleash clean, safe, American nuclear power to meet 21st-century needs, create high-wage jobs, and end dependence on intermittent sources backed by the left.

Runaway deficits continue to threaten our children’s future. We can pass a balanced budget amendment, impose statutory spending caps, and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal bureaucracy. The filibuster has shielded bloated appropriations for too long—a simple majority would force fiscal responsibility.

Leader Thune, the filibuster is not a safeguard of deliberation; it is a veto wielded by a Democrat minority party that has chosen obstruction for political gain over compromise in the best interest of the American people. The nuclear option is not a weapon—it is a tool to restore majority rule in the framework of our Constitutional Republic. President Trump and the American people have given us a historic opportunity. Let us not squander it on procedural nostalgia. I stand ready to support you and our Senate colleagues in this effort. The time for talking is over, the time for governing has begun.

Sincerely,

Byron Donalds (R-FL) Member of Congress